


Two Lenas are Better than One

by writerbot5000



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Crack, Drunk Lena is a Genius, F/F, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Past Lena is done with all the angst, Post Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 05:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerbot5000/pseuds/writerbot5000
Summary: Frustrated with not having anyone she can trust, Lena gets black-out drunk and builds a time machine to recruit her past self to help. But what does an early season 3 Lena think of her plan?





	Two Lenas are Better than One

Lena opened her eyes, only to immediately close them again when she felt the harsh daylight coming in through her bedroom window. From the pounding in her head, she knew she was hungover. Again. She sank back into her bed and groaned. 

The CEO had been drinking more and more heavily ever since Lex had spent his final moments telling her about Kara being Supergirl. So waking up with a hangover was sadly commonplace. Though she had no memory of how she had actually gotten to bed, which meant this was the first time she had gotten blackout drunk. She tried to recall what she had done the night before, but only had some vague memories of drinking heavily, trying, and failing, to plot her revenge on Kara, and then drinking even more heavily. 

Coming up with a plan to get back at Kara for lying to Lena for years had proved exceedingly difficult. Kara had a whole team, including a government agency, backing her and Lena was all alone. There were lots of people out there that would gladly team up with Lena if she wanted to kill Supergirl, or capture her. But Lena just wanted to hurt Kara the way Kara had hurt her. And there wasn’t really anyone else in that camp. 

Eventually Lena managed to pull herself out of bed. She stumbled into her kitchen and was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she noticed a small cylindrical device on her kitchen counter. The device was about a foot long and had a large button on top of it. 

Looking at the device, Lena felt a flicker of memory from the night before. She was relieved to realize the the strange device hadn’t been planted by someone; it was something she had put built herself. Something that was supposed to help her get revenge. Though how it was supposed to do that, Lena had no idea. She had absolutely no memory of what the device was supposed to do. 

Lena picked up the object, trying to figure out just what it was for. On closer inspection, she realized the large button at the top was actually some sort of dial. As Lena was turning the device over, she felt her finger push into the side of the device, pushing a button she hadn’t even noticed before. There was a click and suddenly the device began to hum. 

As Lena still had no idea what the device was supposed to do, so she set it back down on the counter and took several steps back. No more tinkering with mystery devices while she was hungover for her. The hum continued to build and the device started to glow. A few seconds later a beam of light projected from the side of the device. Suddenly a figure appeared in the room. 

“What the hell?” Lena gasped. 

“What the hell?” A second Lena echoed from across the room.

Too late, Lena remembered what the device she had built was supposed to do. Drunk Lena had decided that if she couldn’t trust anyone else, there was only one person who could help her, herself. The device pulled the consciousness of her past self into the present, using the technology of her image inducer to create a holographic representation of the other Lena and giving her someone she could actually trust to help her in her plot against Supergirl.

Lena should have been excited. She had just created time travel! Well, it wasn’t technically time travel but it was a way to communicate through time. It was a breakthrough that could change the world. With the way her head was still pounding though, all Lena really just wanted to go back to bed. 

However, as much as she wanted to just forget about what was happening, this was the first time she had an opportunity to really vent to someone about Kara’s betrayal. Someone that she knew would be on her side. 

So instead of going back to bed, she sighed and explained, “I built a device that lets me communicate with other versions of myself throughout time. Right now, in your time, you are asleep. You conscious mind has been projected from your time to mine. You aren’t really here. Not physically, at least. Your mind is construction a representation of you; your brain basically thinks you are dreaming right now and it has created an image of you to appear within the dream.” 

“That’s remarkable!” Past Lena exclaimed. “But aren’t you worried about disrupting the timeline?” 

Lena found more memories from last night coming flooding back to her. “No, it should be okay. You shouldn't remember anything when you wake up. And if you do, you’ll just think this whole thing was a dream.” 

“Well, if I’m not going to remember anyway, how were you able to construct an Einstein–Rosen bridge and link it to the neural network of human consciousness?” 

Lena grimaced. “Honestly, I’m not really sure. I was like really, really drunk at the time. I didn’t even remember that I had built a time communication device until you showed up. But since you’re here, I need your help for a project I’m working on.” 

“You could have contacted any scientist from any point in time and you chose to contact yourself for help?” Past Lena asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“The device is linked to the brain chemistry of the operator,” Lena explained, more and more details about the device coming to her as she spoke. “It can only seek out and connect to the person who activates it. Now are you going to help me or what?” 

Well, I suppose it would be pretty foolish to refuse to help myself,” Past Lena joked. 

“Excellent. I need you to help me come up with a plan to get revenge on Kara.” 

Past Lena’s smile fell, “Why would we want to get revenge on Kara? Oh, is this like a prank war thing or something?” 

Lena rubbed her temples. “Right, you must be from before. Tell me, what was the date when you went to sleep?” 

“November 12, 2017. What day is it now?” 

“It’s… uh…” Lena trailed off, not really sure. She picked up her phone and checked the date. “It’s June 2nd, 2019. And it’s not for a prank war. It’s because Kara is Supergirl.” 

“And?” Past Lena asked.

“What do you mean ‘And?’” 

“What else happened?” 

“She hid her identity from us!” 

Past Lena scoffed, “That’s it? She didn’t tell you that she’s Supergirl so now you decide you’re going to go all Luthor on her?” 

“She’s been treating us like fools!” Lena spit out. “Lex said that she’s been playing us—” 

Past Lena put her hand on her forehead, rubbing her temples in a familiar gesture. “Seriously? You’re mad at her because of something Lex told you? You realize that’s exactly what he wants, right? I thought we were done with letting Lex manipulate us.” 

“We trusted Kara and she lied to us!” 

“Oh, come on!” Past Lena scoffed. “It’s not like it’s a surprise that Kara is Supergirl. I’ve suspected that for months and I’m you from 2017!” 

God, past Lena was so annoying. Lena was starting to realize she couldn’t even count on herself to be on her side. “It’s more complicated than that. There was a lot of stuff that happened over the last year and a half. Stuff you don’t know about.” 

“Tell me then.” 

Lena was tempted to just shut the damned machine off and go back to bed, but she relented and became summarizing everything that had happened over the past 19 months.

* * *

“Wait, we dated James? James as in James Olsen? Why the hell would we do that? I’ve been trying for months to work up the courage to ask Kara on a date, but I’m going to ask James out instead? Christ!” The woman reached for the decanter of whiskey on the counter only for her hand to pass through it. “Right. I’m a hologram,” she sighed.

“It doesn’t work out,” Lena admitted.

“Wow, what a surprise,” Past Lena drawled, rolling her eyes. “I know we don’t have the best track record when it comes to dating, but James Olsen? He’s the head of the ‘Lena is just another Luthor’ fan club!” 

“Are you going to let me talk or what?” Lena snapped. 

“Fine, go ahead,” Past Lena answered, raising her hands. “Regale me with what other horrible life choices we’ve made.” 

* * *

“And so for the last couple weeks I’ve been pretending everything is normal by day and plotting my revenge by night,” Lena concluded. 

“So you’re letting Lex win. Again.” 

“That’s not what I’m doing.” 

“It is,” Past Lena insisted. “I will admit it sounds like we’ve had a pretty terrible time of it and yeah, Kara should have told us that she’s Supergirl by now, but the idea that Kara would just pretend to be our friend so that she could take advantage of us… Well, frankly, the idea is ludicrous. You’re hurting and your pain is keeping you from seeing the truth.”

“On the contrary, you are the one that is blinded by affection for your best friend,” Lena countered. “I’ve never seen her more clearly.”

“Oh, come on. Kara has saved us time and time again. In some cases, that’s literal, but I’m not talking about all the times she saved our lives as Supergirl, but how Kara has saved. I can still remember how miserable we were when we first moved to National City. Trying to make a name for myself, but never really believing I’d be able to break free of our family name. Kara was the one that taught me, taught us, that we could be happy. That it didn’t matter what our last name was. And she’s always had our back. Always.”

Lena rolled her eyes. “If she really had our back, she wouldn’t have kept us in the dark.” 

Past Lena didn’t seem phased by Lena’s interruption and continued. “Just a couple weeks ago, well a couple weeks ago for me, Morgan Edge made it look like we had poisoned a bunch of kids when we used the lead dispersal device. Kara was the one that held us as we cried. The one that managed to keep us going. Not to mention the one that found the evidence that proved our innocence.” 

“Yeah, so she could keep us as her little pawn. We’re useful to her as long as we’re building anti-Kryptonite tech and helping her take down supervillains,” Lena countered. “I’m sure she and Alex had a good laugh about their little pet Luthor.” 

“That’s bullshit. You know it’s bullshit. Kara doesn’t use people and she certainly wasn’t just pretending to be our friend. You are hurt that she lied to you. I get it; it sucks. She should have been honest. But if you talk to her, I’m sure she’ll have a good reason—”

Lena cut in, “Oh no. I’m definitely not going to tell her I know.” 

“Why not?” 

“I have to keep pretending to be in the dark. That everything is normal. At least until I can figure out how to get back at her.” 

“We both know you don’t really want revenge.” 

“Yes, I do,” Lena insisted. 

“No,” Past Lena answered, her voice soft. “No, you don’t. You’re a genius. If you really wanted to come up with a plan to hurt Kara, you would have. You don’t want to hurt Kara. You love her.” 

Lena shook her head, “Maybe I used to love her, but not anymore. You may know what’s happened in the last year and a half, but that’s not the same as having lived through it. She didn’t trust me with Kryptonite and she didn’t trust me with her identity. We’re nothing but a useful tool to her!” Lena continued to protest.

“If the two of you would just sit down and talk—”

“No! She can’t know that I know!” Lena may have been drinking herself into a stupor each night, but during the day, she had been able to pretend everything was fine. That Kara was still her best friend and nothing was wrong. Not that she needed that normalcy in her life, of course. It was all about keeping Kara in the dark, right? 

“You need to talk to her,” Past Lena insisted. “You’re getting yourself twisted in knots trying to delude yourself into thinking you want revenge. What you really want is to understand why she didn’t tell you. If you keep on this path, you might end up doing something we’ll both regret. And I’m not going to let you ruin the most important relationship in our lives just because you’re too scared to have an honest conversation.” 

Lena laughed bitterly. “And just how are you going to stop me from doing what I want to do? You’re just a hologram here. And when your consciousness returns to your body, you aren’t going to remember this.”

“I might not really be here, but I can still do this,” Past Lena countered, clearing her throat before shouting, “Oh god! Stay back! Help!” Lena never realized just how loud she could scream. 

The hologram held up a hand with five fingers raised and started lowering them, counting down from five. Past Lena was down to two when Supergirl flew in through the balcony door of Lena’s penthouse. The closed balcony doors, which were now going to need to be replaced, nothing but glass shards all over the floor. 

Instantly Supergirl was at Lena’s side, “Lena! Are you okay?” she asked, scanning the room for threats before pausing at the sight of a second Lena across the room. 

Past Lena was the first to speak, “Glad you could join us, Supergirl. So, important things to know. One, I’m not really here. I’m just a hologram from 2017,” she explained, throwing in a little wave. “She’s the real Lena,” Past Lena added, pointing to her counterpart. “Two, before he died, Lex told Lena that you’re Kara Danvers and that your entire friendship was a lie. Three, she’s been in love with you for years but she’s never been able to work up the courage to say anything. Four, the two of you really need to sit down and talk.”

Glaring at her counterpart, Lena wondered how much harder it would be to build a traditional time-machine so she could go back in time and kill Past Lena. Unfortunately, killing her past self would presumably have a negative impact on her present self, even if it would get her out of this conversation. 

“Okay, I think that’s enough from you,” Lena huffed, marching up to the device and jabbing the button repeatedly until finally, mercifully, the device powered down and the hologram of 2017 Lena blinked out of existence. 

In her shock and anger at being betrayed by her past self, Lena hadn’t thought to look at Kara to see how the other woman had reacted to each bit of news that Past Lena had just shared. Looking over now, she saw the hero standing there awkwardly, holding her arms against herself. “Um, can… can we talk?” 

“Fine,” Lena answered with a sigh. So much for hanging on to normalcy. “Let’s get this over with.” 

* * *

Lena rolled over and shut off her alarm. “What a weird dream,” she muttered to herself. She struggled to recall exactly what the dream had been about, but it was already fading from her memory. It was definitely weird. Kara had been flying at one point. And someone had said something about Lena dating… someone? She couldn’t quite remember who, just that it was someone she would never actually date in real life. Nobody ever said dreams had to make sense, she supposed. 

Pushing the dream from her mind, Lena began preparing for another work day. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she noticed a vase of plumerias on her kitchen counter. A vase that certainly hadn’t been there the night before. 

With some trepidation, Lena reached over and picked up the card sticking out of the flowers. It was a short note, just two words, “Thank You.” What made it particularly bizarre was that the note was definitely written in Lena’s own handwriting. 

Lena puzzled over the note. She hadn’t been drinking last night so it wasn’t like she could have gotten black-out drunk and ordered herself flowers. She had been really busy the day before though. She had been thinking about getting Kara flowers to thank the woman for inviting her to her first game night. Maybe she had actually ordered the flowers and accidentally put her address as the recipient instead of the sender? But how would they have gotten onto her counter? 

Lena shrugged. It was a mystery, but hardly one worth ruining her day over. She picked up her phone and shooting off a quick text.

**LL**: Free for lunch? 

**KD**: For you, always

**LL**: I heard there’s a new Chinese place on 5th we could try. 

**KD**: See, this is why you’re my favorite!!!! 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗

Lena smiled, tracing her finger over the heart emojis. Maybe today would be the day she finally managed to ask Kara out. She had this strange feeling that if she waited too long, she’d regret it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I toyed with including Kara and Lena's talk in this story, but they have some serious stuff they need to work through and this is supposed to be kind of a silly story. Couldn't really figure out a way to do justice to their talk without drastically changing the tone of this story. But we do know it all works out in the end since Lena sent herself thank you flowers. 
> 
> How do you think Lena sent flowers to her past self? Did she build a full-on time machine just to deliver some flowers? Did she recruit the Legends for help? Or did she use some other method? 
> 
> And do you think Past Lena will end up asking Kara out and totally disrupt the timeline? Or is she going to be stuck on the same path as her future self?


End file.
